The current situation and investigation of the GSA’s Las Vegas event has many people up in arms about the investment that companies, associations, and governmental agencies make on hosting business meetings. People who question the purpose and power of business meetings are rattling the cage and making noise just as they did after “Muffin-Gate” in 2011 (the over hyped and twisted story that a DOJ paid $16 per muffin at a meeting coffee break). But there is more to meetings than the costs to produce a meaningful conference.

While it can sound expensive, the realities of hosting events do cost money. Hotels, meals, transportation, professional speakers, entertainment, and other necessary items have associated bills. But when a meeting becomes a “happening” there is value created. Looking at pieces of the puzzle separately can cause some to misinterpret the real power that happens when people gather together. Throughout history man has collected in groups to share the best ideas, learn, grow, entertain, have fun, and get inspired for the future.

Of course there are those who abuse the system, make poor spending decisions, and waste money. I am not condoning bad behavior. Meetings are not something you just “do”… as you need trained professionals to help you organize or you will fall prey to all sorts of mistakes. Too many jump in thinking “how hard can it be?” and wing-it in their planning. A conference has so many parts that you should never expect the right results without the proper planning and experience.

Some people think that the meetings industry is dead. I spoke to one person recently who said she never goes to business meetings, and thus was convinced that conferences were dying. NOT TRUE. Many business meetings are growing and new conferences spring up daily around the world. The meetings industry is a multi-billion dollar business that employs over 1.7 million people in the United States.

The problem with all the discussion about meetings is there is not a clear understanding of the purpose of business gatherings. If you talk to different people you will get different answers. Some think meetings exits to educate. Others to entertain. Networking opportunities are regularly cited as a reason to attend. There are those that believe meetings a perk, while just as many view them as an obligation. Associations can acquire much of their income from conferences and at the same time other companies and agencies have them as expenses.

Every meeting that is planned can have different purposes (even meetings that are put on by the same organization).

Since there is not a single purpose for business meetings there will always be controversy as people tend to only look at things the way they want to see them. Those who want to see meetings as expensive can make that argument, but if you have ever been to a conference where you made a connection that changed the direction of your career, or learned something that inspired you to achieve more… then you know why there will always be business meetings.

All opportunities come from people, and bringing groups together is a way to create more opportunities.

I believe meetings exist for many of reasons, but too often even the organizers cannot tell you the clear purpose. Working to appeal to a variety of people can leave an event too vanilla to become spectacular to anyone. If you cannot clearly articulate the reason to host the meeting, why can you expect attendees to understand the purpose?

Knowing the answer to “why” will make the event better for everyone!

What was the last meeting you attended and why was it great? (or why was it blah?).

Online meetings are the conferences or meetings that are conducted with the aid of the internet. These meetings can be differentiated into two types they are the casual online meetings and professional business meetings. To conduct the casual online conference, there are various options available on the Internet; they are Google+ Hangouts and Skype. But for professional business meetings, these video chat options do not work out. The business meetings always need a professional web conferencing solution.

Video conferencing solution eases the business executives to interact effectively with one another as if they are meeting in live or in person. This solution enables the users to have interactions with the people who are separated by a thousand miles of distance.

In the recent years, the advancements in the web conferencing technology have renovated the online meetings towards more mobile and flexible. In the preceding years, the conferencing solution was hardware based, where the organizations have to set up a boardroom to conduct the meetings. This setup will be composed of a huge range of hardware components.

Normally the online meetings are conducted to have an interaction with the business executives are far located. Let us consider a case: A business executive is on business tour and he/she must have to attend the meeting. In this situation, such executive cannot search for a boardroom and log on to the meeting. As a solution to this case, video conferencing software can be used. Through the software based application, the business executive doesn’t have to look for a boardroom; rather he/she can log on to the meeting through his/her wireless PC.

During the time of the meeting, the business executives do have a need of presenting some documents. The software video conferencing solutions are integrated with certain fruitful features, by which the online meeting can be more interactive and lively. Whiteboard sharing, file sharing, desktop sharing, referendum, voting and co-browsing are some of the most helpful features for executing the online meetings successfully.

The basic software and hardware requirements needed for making use of the video conferencing software are: standard PC (Laptop, iPad or Android based mobile phone), internet connection either broadband or leased line or a software license to make the application installed in the PC.

Web conferencing software provides ample benefits for the organizations, in terms of minimizing cost of resources. Through this solution the business executive doesn’t have a need to all the way travel from his place to the meeting place. This will cut down certain expenses such as air fares and hotel bills.

Lastly it can be justified that, the video conferencing software is the best loom for executing the online meeting in an effective way.

In daily life, sometimes we can find the business meetings which are digressive of the main point. Because of many aspects, the business meeting is not effective. Before holding any meeting, you should consider to call the meeting when the condition is critical to have the meeting. You also need to structure it well so the meeting can meet its goal.

Before holding a meeting, you should prepare some things such as the business books, flip charts, overhead projectors, personal organizers, notebook papers, spiral notebooks, slide projectors, and the transparencies.

The first thing you should do is deciding whether the meeting is important or not. It is related to the issue whether the issue is involved to the individual or the conference call. You also need to determine the person who needs to come to the meeting. It is better for you to keep the number of the attendees in small number. The main reason is having the large meeting is not as effective as having the small meeting. By this way, the discussion of the meeting can be more focused.

To make the meeting is more effective, you should set the definite starting and stopping time. During the meeting, one of the attendees should prepare the agenda. Remember to explain the purpose of the meeting. If you have many goals, you should decide which goal has the command priority. Help the attendees understand more about the meeting progress by using the visual aids like the charts, slides, and the handouts. It is better for you to begin the meeting in the designated time. You should start the meeting whether everyone is present or not.

You can start off the meeting directly to the point. You also need to allocate the time for each issue. Moving through issues will let the discussion but discouraging digression or the repetition. It is recommended for you to use the timer.

If the debate or the issue runs overtime, you need to postpone the discussion until the end of the meeting. Ensure that you cover the other issues on the agenda.